Hi, My Name’s Joe –
Have You Met My Hammer?
Automation - It’s a Beautiful Thing… but Baby, it’s Just a Tool!
by Morgana
Braveraven
Automation – oh
my gosh, it’s a beautiful thing. It saves us so much time. It keeps
things nice and tidy for us. For online marketing, tools that automate
our daily tasks, particularly autoresponders, are essential … but – we
have to remember that they are only tools and we must work beyond them
to build a successful presence and rapport with those we seek to do
business with.
Let me ask you
this: Who are you? In business, your business, who are you? What sets
you apart from the other half a zillion online marketers?
How do you
present yourself to prospective clients or recruits? Do you leave your
business entirely in the hands of your autoresponder and other
automation tools – or are you present, a real person, in your
business?
Holy Cow – that’s
one of the best questions I have ever asked! Here’s why:
The internet is
an ocean of opportunity the likes of which we have never seen before.
We have never been able to connect with so many people, who for all
intents are strangers to us, so readily. In the years prior to the
internet, if we wanted to start a home business, we were pretty much
limited to our own communities. Or if the true entrepreneurial spirit
woke within us, we could go so far as to advertise in national and
international newspapers, cold call prospects from local phone books
or acquire phone books from distant cities or countries – but it all
took great effort and often a fair investment. Heck, I can remember a
guy who lived in Alberta – he drove from province to province, city to
city attempting to spark a little activity into his downline. It was a
great effort and expense on his part – and in the end, his efforts
proved very unsuccessful.
Enter stage left
– The Internet… and everything pertaining to starting your own home
business changed. But, before we get too far into that scenario, I’d
like to introduce you to Joe…
Joe is a local
guy. He’s a contractor. He builds houses, does renos and carpentry
repairs of all kinds. He has a sign on his truck with his phone number
on it. He takes out classified ads in the local paper, and he’s
almost never home because he’s out looking for work. But he’s not
worried about missing calls because he has an answering service, and
because he has an answering service, he thinks he has all his bases
covered. But the funny thing about Joe is that he never returns any
calls to his prospective clients. Joe doesn’t like talking to people –
especially people whom he doesn’t know. So, realistically speaking,
Joe may as well toss all of his advertising dollars directly into the
toilet. In fact, he may as well send his hammer out to start drumming
up a little business. Quite frankly, the hammer wouldn’t be any less
effective than his answering service. By not returning calls, the
message that Joe is sending to prospective clients, intentionally or
not, is – hey, if you want the job done – talk to the hammer.
Sounds pretty
silly, doesn’t it? A guy wants to run his own business, but he does
not want to talk to people… Do you know any people in any type of
business who do not talk to their clients or prospects? Can you think
of any reason that a person would want to do business with someone who
does not communicate with them..?
Ok, back to the
internet. The internet is a tool. Web sites are tools, Autoresponders
are tools. Subscribing to and operating a few useful tools is not the
same thing as running a business. You may have all the bells and
whistles, but they won’t be a benefit to you or your business unless
know how to use them properly – effectively.
And by
effectively, I mean that you need to be able to use these tools while
still maintaining a strong presence in your business. So if you are
serious about your home based business – take it seriously, and listen
up!
Autoresponders
are tools. It’s a great idea to put them to work for you. They do a
fantastic job of capturing contacts, building contact lists, keeping
contact lists clean and manageable, and maintaining a steady stream of
automated communication with the people on your lists – however, you
should never rely entirely on your autoresponders to
communicate with your contacts. If you do, you are doing a half-baked
job of running your business, and, you are not effectively working
with the contacts on your list (translation: you’re losing sales!).
You need to set
yourself apart from the automation you employ, and more importantly,
you need to set yourself apart from other marketers.
People are not
stupid. They are familiar with autoresponders – they are very aware
that the messages they receive from autoresponders are automated.
So in order to
make the automation work in your favour, you need to make it very
personal and work towards building a relationship with the contacts on
your list – and you can do this in at least two ways. Here are my two
favourites:
- Keep each message in your
autoresponder series as personal as possible by using merge fields to
insert your contact’s first name into the email a couple of times
throughout each message. Also, sign off each message with a warm and
genuine closing (Warmest Regards, Good Wishes, Sincerely, etc)
followed by your name and all of your personal contact information.
Keep the tone of each message in the series as personable as possible
and make the goal of your messages to develop a relationship with your
contact as opposed to selling to them – if there is a sale to be had,
it will come, but people are more likely to purchase or partner with
people whom they know, like, and trust. Let your messages work to
develop trust and familiarity with your contacts.
- Don’t rely solely on your
autoresponder series to communicate with contacts. Send them personal
follow-up messages from your personal email address. Ask them
questions and get them to start communicating with you and start
building a rapport with them.
Let’s see if you
can see the difference between the examples below (this is an actual
message that I received from someone’s autoresponder – some minor
changes have been applied. The sender never did send me a personal
follow-up. I unsubscribed after receiving this message):
Subject:
{{WOW!!!}} THIS IS AMAZING
Hi Business
Professional!
Wow – it’s your
lucky day. You just discovered the most amazing biz op on the
planet. Luck You! AND you get to work with ME! and together, we’re
gonna get stinkin RICH!!!! Sign up NOW!!!
http://www.Im-a-Twit.com/?id=heybob
This product is
amazing and in demand – there’s nothing else like it in this solar
system. Get yours now! http://www.Im-a-Twit.com/?id=heybob
You’ll be rich
soon! Don’t miss this boat.
http://www.Im-a-Twit.com/?id=heybob
ps – don’t waste
a second – you’re loosing money!!!
http://www.Im-a-Twit.com/?id=heybob
Now, if this had
come from one of my autoresponders, it would look more like this:
Subject: Hi Bob
– Here is the Help you just Requested from Morgana
Hello Bob – I’m
Morgana writing from BC, Canada. Thanks for your request for
information from my site http://www.mysite.mb.
As an online
marketer I’m sure you will appreciate this handy new tool which was
designed to lighten your work load. It has been a huge benefit to my
business and find that I can now finish my work in less than half
the usual time using this little gem. Could you use a little help
completing your tasks?
I’ll bet you
could ;o)
Here is a link
to more information: http://www.mysite.mb?id=morganb
I’d love to know
your thoughts about this product. Feel welcome to contact me any
time – my contact information is below.
Have a great
day, Bob. I’ll be in touch again soon.
Warm Regards,
Morgana
Braveraven
Be Brilliant – Follow a Leader!
=======Contact
Me ==========
Morgana
Braveraven
Vancouver Island, BC, CA
phone toll free:
877.876.2730
email:
morgana@contactlistbuilder.com
msn messenger: morganb43
skype: morganb50
See the
difference? It’s personal! I have used the contact’s first name to
address him. My message is not filled with hyped-up Buy Now Before
this offer is GONE
FOREVER!!! marketing
jargon, and my contact info is clearly provided at the end of my
message. There is no way that I can me mistaken for an automaton and
it is evident that there is a real person at the end of this
autoresponder.
Another thing
that will set me apart from the average marketer is that after I
receive notification that someone has triggered my autoresponder, I
send them a personal message from my personal email address, which
might look something like this:
Subject: Hi Bob
– it’s Morgana :o)
Hi again, Bob –
it’s Morgana. I just received notification that you requested
information from my website: http://www.mysite.mb/.
I’d be really
interested in hearing your thoughts on this tool – so when you have
a sec, please pop me a quick note to let me know what you think.
I notice that
your email provider is shaw.ca. Are you located in Canada also? Hey
– maybe we’re neighbours! Where are you writing from?
Hope all is well
with you, Bob. Thanks again for your request for information. Keep
in touch!
Sincerely,
Morgana
========Contact
Me========
Morgana
Braveraven
Vancouver Island, BC, CA
phone toll free:
877.876.2730
email:
morgana@contactlistbuilder.com
msn messenger: morganb43
skype: morganb50
Again, this
message is highly personal. I use the contact’s first name to address
him and any other bit of information that I can glean from his request
for information to ask open ended personal questions aimed at
getting him to communicate further with me. I’m sure you can recognize
the difference between the first example and my messages. What and how
I write my messages is one way that I set myself apart from other
marketers. It’s one of the little ways that I present myself and my
business that sets me apart from the crowd.
My business is
not a traditional business, but it’s a real business. It’s not some
crazy, hyped-up instant wealth building machine – and I don’t want it
to be mistaken for such, so I don’t make ridiculous, over the top
claims of easy, instant wealth, I treat people respectfully and I’m
mindful of their intelligence. I work beyond the tools of automation,
ensuring that I’m present in my business and easy to contact if anyone
has a question – and all of these little things serve my business very
well.
So again, let me
ask you: Who are you in your business? What sets you apart from the
other half a zillion online marketers? Do you leave your business
entirely in the hands of your autoresponder, like Joe with his
answering service?
The internet is a
highly competitive market. Be present in your business. Be a real live
person at the end of your autoresponder and set yourself apart from
the rest.
Until next time,
Morgana Braveraven
Visit
Morgana Here
